We feel this is a burning question at the moment. Sir Malcolm Rifkind insists that he cannot live on a salary of an MP - a meagre £65,000+. He would also get another large allowance for chairing the committee he has just resigned from. He was seen talking to a ficticious company saying he was self employed, his job was only part time and he had loads of free time. We must not forget also that he  can claim all sorts of expenses such as second home allowances of the past where many MP's had a house bought for them by the taxpayer and all costs on that house paid for over the decades. Then the ttravelling allowance and the food allowance of £400 a month is available to MP's. Jack Straw charges £5000 for a speech and as stated in our readers letters a huge proportion of workers are on zero hours contracts. Our own MP Peter Hain is caught up in this as he has other lucrative arrows to his bow which bring him in a lot of money. Your thoughts would be appreciated.